The above is a picture of a page in Jump Square magazine that announces a NEW RUROUNI KENSHIN series that will begin soon. Yes, that's right! A new RK series. As of now, though, the details are pretty sparse. It doesn't say if it's rebooting the whole series or if it'll be just the Jinchuu arc finally animated or what.

For those who are totally unaware, Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Swordsman Romantic Story (るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚-, Rurouni Kenshin Meiji Kenkaku Roumantan) is a series written by Nobuhiro Watsuki that takes place during the early Meiji period in Japan (ten years after the Bakumatsu). The story is about an ex-hitokiri (assassin) named Himura Kenshin who becomes a rurouni (wanderer) destined to protect the people of Japan to atone for his sins.

The series is extremely well done and is one of my favorite series of all time (hence why I'm crazy enough to keep a full fledged FAQ going for it). The first anime series is pretty good though tends to go off into filler land (and after the second major arc goes exclusively into filler land, which eventually got the show killed). The manga is probably the best I've ever read. Things that happen in chapter 1 aren't forgotten (in fact, characters from chapter 1 reappear later). The characters are all very interesting and the story gets you sucked in (especially when the Kyoto arc rolls in).

If you haven't read it, I highly, highly recommend you do so.

But I can't believe they're finally going to give RK a new series. I have to wonder if it'll be a reboot (like FMA Brotherhood) or a continuation (like Inuyasha). I hope we get more information soon.

This topic can serve as a general RK thread or just to talk about the new series when more information is released.

About time! RK has needed to get something out there for some time now. I'm with you on the story, I have loved RK since you first introduced me to it oh so long ago. I sincerely hope it gets the FMA Brotherhood treatment. That series is 100x better w/o the filler. I wish more series would do this.

Coincidentally (and I know this is a far stretch) but I wish the games would make their way stateside in some form. Maybe as a collection or downloadable. I'd buy on day one.

lol the PS1 fighting game is oh-so-bad. But I wish they'd bring the PS2 game over here in English. I can play the game in Japanese okay, but I know I'm missing stuff since I can't read all the kanji (which is like 99% of all the text in the game).

I haven't heard any new information on the remake since the day I posted this. I'll have to dig around sometime when I have some spare time and see if I can find anything else about it.

Unrelated to a new anime series (I still can't find anything else about that) but some more news:

22-year-old actor Takeru Satoh (Kamen Rider Den-O, Rookies, Beck, Ryōmaden) will star in a live-action film adaptation of Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin samurai manga next year. Keishi Ōtomo will direct Satoh on this new film, just as he did in last year's NHK historical television series Ryōmaden. Warner Brothers Pictures Japan is producing with its president William Ireton, while Studio Swan (Paradise Kiss) is in charge of the actual film production.

The Sankei Sports newspaper adds that the staff aims to release the film internationally and eventually make a series. This will be the first live-action adaptation of the manga.

Producer Shinzō Matsuhashi commented, "Satoh has the looks and stature to be a proper Kenshin." Watsuki added that when this project was just starting, he and his wife were discussing who should play Kenshin, and decided that Satoh topped the list.

Satoh himself said that he was a huge fan of the original manga when he was in elementary school and when the manga was still running. "It was the manga that everyone in my generation knew." He added that he and his friends would play around by pretending to sword-fight. Satoh began intensive training in sword-fighting earlier this month, and filming will begin in July.

Uhhh..well no news on a new Kenshin anime series. I'm thinking either there was a printed mistake, a translation error or perhaps just a misunderstanding error. Maybe it was supposed to read a new series of Kenshin animated specials, which is what we got (a new two part OAV based on the Kyoto arc). I dunno since official anime sites were reporting a new series though. So, yeah, no idea.

As for the live action movie..it's in post, or in the can. There's a trailer out (look on youtube for it and the subtitled one). It looks awesome.